Muhammad : His Life Based on the Earliest Sources : Revised Edition : Martin Lings (Abu Bakr Siraj Ad-Din)

Martin Lings’ biography of Muhammad is an internationally acclaimed, comprehensive, and authoritative account of the life of the prophet. Based on the sira, the eighth- and ninth-century Arabic biographies that recount numerous events in the prophet’s life, it contains original English translations of many important passages that reveal the words of men and women who heard Muhammad speak and witnessed the events of his life.

Scrupulous and exhaustive in its fidelity to its sources, Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources is presented in a narrative style that is easily comprehensible, yet authentic and inspiring in its use of language, reflecting both the simplicity and grandeur of the story it tells. This revised edition includes new sections detailing the prophet’s expanding influence and his spreading of the message of Islam into Syria and its neighboring states. It represents the final updates made to the text before the author’s death in 2005. The book has been published in 12 languages and has received numerous awards, including acknowledgment as best biography of the prophet in English at the National Seerate Conference in Islamabad.

About the Author(s) of Muhammad (pbuh): His Life Based on the Earliest Sources --

Martin Lings (1909–2005) was a renowned British scholar with degrees in English and Arabic from London University and Oxford University. At Oxford, he studied English under C. S. Lewis, who later became a close friend. Lings taught at several European universities and the University of Cairo and served as the keeper of Oriental manuscripts for the British Museum and the British Library. His friendship and similar beliefs with philosophers René Guénon and Frithjof Schuon inspired Lings to convert to Islam. He went on to become an influential member of Western Muslim society, participating in several international Islamic councils and conferences, including acting as consultant to the World of Islam Festival Trust. He is the author of twelve books on religion and spirituality.

Praise for Muhammad

"Lings provides a wealth of detail on the life of Muhammad, the time and place of many Koranic revelations, and the foundation of Islam, all based exclusively on 8th- and 9th-century Arabic biographical sources and collections of the sayings attributed to Muhammad. General readers will find a well-written, straightforward chronological narrative; Muslim readers will appreciate the favorable treatment of Muhammad; while specialists will find a faithful and convenient rendering of source material."

Joseph Gardner, California State Univ. Lib., Northridge Library Journal

“This work is widely recognized as the most readable account of the life of the Prophet to date.” - Times of London

Book Excerpt

from Chapter 15

The First Revelations

It was not long after this outward sign of his authority and his mission that he began to experience powerful inward signs, in addition to those of which he had already been conscious. When asked about these he spoke of “true visions” which came to him in his sleep and he said that they were “like the breaking of the light of dawn.” The immediate result of these visions was that solitude became dear to him, and he would go for spiritual retreats to a cave in Mount ¥ir¡’ not far from the outskirts of Mecca. There was nothing in this that would have struck Quraysh as particularly strange, for retreat had been a traditional practice amongst the descendants of Ishmael, and in each generation there had been one or two who would withdraw to a solitary place from time to time so that they might have a period that was uncontaminated by the world of men. In accordance with this age-old practice, Mu?ammad would take with him provisions and consecrate a certain number of nights to the worship of God.

Then he would return to his family, and sometimes on his return he took more provisions and went again to the mountain. During these few years it often happened that after he had left the town and was approaching his hermitage he would hear clearly the words “Peace be on thee, O Messenger of God,” and he would turn and look for the speaker but no one was in sight, and it was as if the words had come from a tree or a stone. Ramadan was the traditional month of retreat, and it was one night towards the end of Ramadan, in his fortieth year, when he was alone in the cave, that there came to him an Angel in the form of a man. The Angel said to him: “Recite!” and he said: “I am not a reciter,” whereupon, as he himself told it, “the Angel took me and whelmed me in his embrace until he had reached the limit of mine endurance. Then he released me and said: ‘Recite!’ I said: ‘I am not a reciter,’ and again he took me and whelmed me in his embrace, and again when he had reached the limit of mine endurance he released me and said: ‘Recite!’, and again I said ‘I am not a reciter.’ Then a third time he whelmed me as before, then released me and said:

‘Recite in the name of thy Lord who created!He createth man from a clot of blood.Recite; and thy Lord is the Most Bountiful,He who hath taught by the pen,taught man what he knew not.’”

He recited these words after the Angel, who thereupon left him, and he said: “It was as though the words were written on my heart.”’ But he feared that this might mean he had become a jinn-inspired poet or a man possessed. So he fled from the cave, and when he was halfway down the slope of the mountain he heard a voice above him saying: “O Mu?ammad, thou art the Messenger of God, and I am Gabriel.” He raised his eyes heavenwards and there was his visitant, still recognizable but now clearly an Angel, filling the whole horizon, and again he said: “O Mu?ammad, thou art the Messenger of God, and I am Gabriel.” The Prophet stood gazing at the Angel; then he turned away from him, but whichever way he looked the Angel was always there, astride the horizon, whether it was to the north, to the south, to the east or to the west. Finally the Angel turned away, and the Prophet descended the slope and went to his house.

“Cover me! Cover me!” he said to Khad•jah as with still quaking heart he laid himself on his couch. Alarmed, yet not daring to question him, she quickly brought a cloak and spread it over him. But when the intensity of his awe had abated he told her what he had seen and heard; and having spoken to him words of reassurance, she went to tell her cousin Waraqah, who was now an old man, and blind. “Holy! Holy!,” he said. “By Him in whose hand is the soul of Waraqah, there hath come unto Mu?ammad the greatest N¡ms, even he that would come unto Moses. Verily Mu?ammad is the Prophet of this people. Bid him rest assured.” So Khad•jah went home and repeated these words to the Prophet, who now returned in peace of mind to the cave, that he might fulfill the number of days he had dedicated to God for his retreat. When this was completed, he went straight to the Ka’bah, according to his wont, and performed the rite of the rounds, after which he greeted the old and the blind Waraqah whom he had noticed amongst those who were sitting in the Mosque; and Waraqah said to him: “Tell me, O son of my brother, what thou hast seen and heard.” The Prophet told him, and the old man said again what he had said to Khad•jah. But this time he added: “Thou wilt be called a liar, and ill-treated, and they will cast thee out and make war upon thee; and if I live to see that day, God knoweth I will help His cause.” Then he leaned towards him and kissed his forehead, and the Prophet returned to his home.

Table of Contents
A Note on the Pronunciation of Arabic Names
Map of Arabia
Quraysh of the Hollow (genealogical tree)
Key to References
1   The House of God2   A Great Loss3   Quraysh of the Hollow4   The Recovery of a Loss5   The Vow to Sacrifice a Son6   The Need for a Prophet7   The Year of the Elephant8   The Desert9   Two Bereavements10   Ba?•rà the Monk11   A Pact of Chivalry12   Questions of Marriage13   The Household14   The Rebuilding of the Ka‘bah15   The First Revelations16   Worship17   “Warn Thy Family”18   Quraysh Take Action19   Aws and Khazraj20   Ab¥ Jahl and Óamzah21   Quraysh Make Offers and Demands22   Leaders of Quraysh23   Wonderment and Hope24   Family Divisions25   The Hour26   Three Questions27   Abyssinia28   ‘Umar29   The Ban and its Annulment30   Paradise and Eternity31   The Year of Sadness32   “The Light of Thy Countenance”33   After the Year of Sadness34   Yathrib Responsive35   Many Emigrations36   A Conspiracy37   The Hijrah38   The Entry into Medina39   Harmony and Discord40   The New Household41   The Threshold of War42   The March to Badr43   The Battle of Badr44   The Return of the Vanquished45   The Captives46   Bani Qaynuqå‘47   Deaths and Marriages48   The People of the Bench49   Desultory Warfare50   Preparations for Battle51   The March to U?ud52   The Battle of U?ud53   Revenge54   The Burial of the Martyrs55   After U?ud56   Victims of Revenge57   Bani NaË•r58   Peace and War59   The Trench60   The Siege61   Bani Quray`ah62   After the Siege63   The Hypocrites64   The Necklace65   The Lie66   The Dilemma of Quraysh67   “A Clear Victory”68   After Óudaybiyah69   Khaybar70   “Whom Lovest Thou Most?”71   After Khaybar72   The Lesser Pilgrimage and its Aftermath73   Syria74   A Breach of the Armistice75   The Conquest of Mecca76   The Battle of Óunayn and the Siege of ?å’if77   Reconciliations78   After the Victory79   Tab¥k80   After Tab¥k81   The Degrees82   The Future83   The Farewell Pilgrimage84   The Choice85   The Succession and the Burial
Index